I admitted to the world that I’m a sweaty beast, and sometimes I call Japanese double gauze my sweat sponge fabric. I think I’ve talked about this before, but the breathability of Japanese double gauze is ideally suited to handle Tokyo’s humid summers. I’m already hearing horror stories about NYC in the summer, so I thought I might as well attach it with some breezy nani IRO for the sweaty days ahead. The fabric is Pierre Pocho double gauze from the 2014 Spring nani IRO collection and the pattern is Sewaholic’s Belcarra blouse. The few changed I made include omitting the cuffs on the sleeves and instead finishing them with a rolled hem, attaching the neckline facing differently to create more of a border, and finishing it all with French seams.

Take that, summer.

Click over to Miss Matatabi’s site to check out more details, and all of the other wonderful nani IRO projects emerging this month.

My biggest shame for the month was my failure to post my final #MMMay14 submission, a silk dress that I worked on for weeks, and which remains … undocumented. It turns out that the wedding it was made for had too many cocktails and disco dance floors, and not enough time for a photo op.

In truth, the biggest hardship of Me-Made-May wasn’t figuring out how to integrate these garments into an everyday wardrobe, it was taking the damn selfies to prove I was doing it. Oof. No more!

I did, however, learn a few things about my sewing style and habits.

1. It is time to learn to sew pants.

2. I haven’t blogged most of my finished projects. So many of the garments I’m sewing these days are un-photoed, un-blogged. I guess it doesn’t really matter, but I learn so much from everyone else’s sewing notes, I’d love to be able to share in the collective knowledge if I can.

3. If I could sew my own underwear, I’d nail #MMMay15. Though the selfies would be a bigger problem…

Overall, #MMMay14 was a positive experience. I’m not going to completely replace all the ready-to-wear pieces in my closet, but instead use them to compliment the unique pieces I enjoy making.

Hello there! This month’s contribution to Miss Matatabi Makers is now up over on Miss M’s blog. I had wanted a little black grunge dress for hell-raising, and ended up with a dance party in my living room. Not a bad trade-off, I have to admit. Click on over to check it out!

I started a new day job recently, so perhaps it was a bit crazy of me to commit to wearing Me-Made clothing for most of the month of May. But so far it has been going really well! #MMMay14 has pushed me to break my skinny-jeans-plus-roomy-top uniform that usually dominates my style this time of year, and instead reach for those garments I’ve spent so much dang time working on. I post daily evidence on Instagram, but here is a quick recap:

Does it count as pledging before May 1 if I’m still sitting in my pjs while typing this? I declare yes.

I, Angela (sakepuppets.com), sign up as a participant of Me Made May 2014. I endeavor to wear a me-made garment at least 3 days a week.

I have some new adventures brewing and my handmade wardrobe is erratic, so I can’t commit to wearing me-mades every day this month. I was ready to sit on the sidelines again this year, but noticed that not everyone commits to 100% handmade 100% of the time. It’s OK to define your own rules. So hell, count me in.

For those of you new to the concept, Me-Made-May is a challenge to encourage people who make garments to actually wear them. I definitely let my handmade items get pushed to the back of the closet — I sew dresses that don’t match my style or integrate into my everyday wardrobe, or I’m not happy with the quality of sewing or the fit. This is the month for me to push my limits a bit. It will be interesting to see what I enjoy wearing, what works, and where my wardrobe holes are. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have some new project ideas for wearable handmades that fit my new NYC lifestyle.

I took advantage of a sunny afternoon and some daffodil-wrangling to capture a few photos of my practice Cambie.This dress started as a muslin for the Sewaholic Cambie dress, but after I assembled the bodice I decided I really liked the fabric. I added the skirt in cotton sateen and a neon zipper, and now it makes a great play-dress for summer. I left the skirt unlined and spent time hand-stitching a blind hem. I really enjoy hand stitching, and love the way quality details can transform something that started as a waste muslin.It didn’t take long before the barn cat paid us a visit. Cat attack!